Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I think in the near future I'm going to have to actually start paying for Pandora, because it has definitely been the soundtrack to my paper writing lately. Most recently I had to write a paper on Nell Noddings' Critical Lessons, What our Schools Should Teach. Definitely not something I would read by choice, it was required for my education class on current issues in schools.She has some interesting on certain topics, and I can't say I agree with everything she writes about, but I think it was a pretty good book for this class. We've had to read four books for this class so far, and although I was not looking forward to it at the beginning of the semester I have really enjoyed most of the books, especially To Teach by Bill Ayers, apparently a friend of my professors. This book should be required by all aspiring teachers, Ayers is just very genuine and while critical of the current educational system also very insightful as to how to work around those problems.

I only have one week left of school until Thanksgiving Break and I get to see all of my family. I've been home twice since I left in August, and they've also come to visit me a couple of times, but it will be nice to be home for more than a couple nights. I am especially excited about Thanksgiving lunch! Turkey is my absolute favorite and I just cannot wait to chow down :D Also the possibility of stopping by the Book Nook and getting some new reading material not required by a course is ridiculously exciting. Unfortunately the fact that it means it is almost Thanksgiving means I have ended my time with the first graders. For the past eight weeks I have been in a school, working with a first grade class and I have fallen in love with each and everyone of them. I plan on going back for their holiday parties of course, but I will definitely miss my Monday and Wednesday mornings with them.

It's Wednesday now, and i feel like this week is just dragging by, and I have so much left to do by next week. I have 16 one and a half page journals due on my experiences with the first graders, a project on an aspect of pop culture and its effects on society today, and a capstone presentation on what I have learned in the field. Oh I also have to turn in 4 physical activities that I have done since the beginning of the semester for my swimming class by Monday. Busy, busy, busy, but that's okay, because I think I can find time to squeeze some fun in there somewhere!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

So it has been over 20 days since I last posted, and I must say things have certainly changed in those 20+ days. I am currently in between houses, as my former roommates (sister and friend) found a new roommate who wanted to move in this past weekend. Which meant that I had to get my act together and actually pack. Unfortunately I can't move into my new abode until the 3rd, which has left me with around 2 weeks of in between time. I officially moved out of former home on Tuesday, and have since then been staying at my best friend's house while I dog sit for her. They get back tomorrow so it is off to the streets for me. Actually it is just to the couch for me. I get to spend the next week at my mom's with the rest of my junk. Speaking of said junk, I cannot believe how many books and knic-knacks I have accumulated in the past year. When I moved in last September with my then boyfriend, it only took a few trips to get everything situated. How in the world did I obtain all of this stuff? Certainly working in a book store was how I got all of the books, but honestly where did these little things come from. It does however make me just a wee bit proud of myself for managing to stuff it all into the tiny little room I was in. Now its all in boxes :/. I can't believe that in a just about a week I will be in my new home, I am ridiculously excited about everything and I really cannot wait!

But now I must head off because I have an incredibly long list of things I need to do before the big move, and although it's late at night, many of them can still be done. So I am off to hopefully cross things off said list.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Here I am on a Saturday night, well truly late afternoon, eating a bowl of honey nut cheerios and trying to come up with a list of things I would like to do before I a) turn 21, or b) graduate college. I feel like I haven't had much time to just relax this week what with working out, working (which I started a newish schedule which dicombobulates me completely on what day it is), birthday things, and other fun activities. I'm certainly not complaining because I do believe this is the best summer I've had in a long time, but it is also kind of wearing me out a little. So before the 4th of July festivities begin tomorrow I determined that tonight would be spent being super lazy! Well not super lazy, because I do have to do laundry, but at least relaxing. I am not planning on leaving the house! Which at the moment appears to be all mine. So here I sit thinking about the list, which as I've been writing have decided that the deadline will be graduation. This list is just things I would like to do or try, not too many necessary things on it.

Here's what I have so far:

- Bust my ass to graduate on time (May 2012)which equals taking summer classes to make up for lost credits due to the change in major.- Go skydiving or bungy jumping- Continue to work out at least 4 days a week- Eat something from home at least 2/3 of my meals a day- Work on my cursive and my signature- Enter artwork into a show, and make it in!- Visit New York- Visit California- Finally go on a plane trip!- Do something artsy/crafty once a week- Take a dance class- Take a self-defense class- Read all of the books that are currently on my shelf before buying/borrowing more- Work on my etsy shop- Eat less red meat- Visit my relatives more often- Start reading the newspaper- Blog more!- Join a volunteer group- Get a job/apprenticeship at a tattoo parlor- Learn how to make homemade margaritas- Seriously look into both grad school and the peace corps and what they have to offer

That's all I can really think of right now, I'm sure I'll add more on a later date, or maybe even later tonight. I think this is a good thing for me, 2010 has brought major changes to my life already and I'm enjoying them all, so why not make a few more! the past couple of years I haven't done much with my life and I think I'm ready to actually experience things. The summer is just the beginning :)

Another thing to add onto the list: Learn to control strain or consciousness writing, goodness I have poor quality writing.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Here I am again at the late hour of 11:30, ok so not THAT late, filling out scholarship applications. I'm pretty sure you are all jealous now, I mean really who doesn't want to be writing an essay on financial stability?

ugh.

Anyways my day has been a bit of a bore, so unfortunately there isn't much to write about on that particular subject.

So I will now entertain you on my thoughts on a particular matter: the oil spill.My reasoning for bringing this up: stumbled upon (if you do not know what stumble is look it up!) a website that tells me how many birds, sea turtles, and mammals have died in the past 71 days.Not what I would consider one of my best stumbles as it is incredibly depressing to know the numbers. If you would like to take a look here is the website. It also accounts for how many have been cleaned and released as well, but the focus is certainly on the death toll. My main issue deals with the boycotting of BP stations. While I cringe at the number of animal deaths, this oil spill is having a pretty intense effect on our economy as well. I know many of the BP stations in Georgia are not owned by the cooperation, and therefore people deciding to get their gas elsewhere are not hurting the BP execs but the small business owners that run franchises of gas stations. The ebst thiing to do right now would be to put our money INTO BP gas stations, in order to help fix the problem! There isn't much else we can do at the moment except to hope for the best. BP knows they made a mistake, but according to statistics every other oil company was using the same type of materials and equipment, BP was just unlucky enough to have this happen first. I know nothing of how they are trying to secure the leak, so I won't even pretend to have an opinion on that, but I do believe that people instead of continuously placing the blame and being upset should rather start trying to help the cause and find a plan that will actually stop the leak.

Those are my thoughts on the matter, feel free to disagree.

In other news I would like to share something that my mom showed me yesterday that I think is amazing. My mom loves her Oprah, and when she recently saw one of the shows on a contest Oprah was holding she fell in love with Zach Anner. I highly encourage everyone to take a look at this guy, not only is he hilarious but he is also making what I would consider to be a pretty big leap for people with Cerebral Palsy. I personally think it is just amazing what hes doing and how determined he is. CP can be a very debilitating disorder in many cases. Very recently I took a class at Georgia State on exceptional children and one of the disorders we discussed was CP. I did a good bit of research on what techniques help these students to express themselves through art. A very interesting technique was when a teacher in New York attached lasers to the tops of the students heads. From there he would get another student to ask questions like "Would you like red paint?", "Is this the right shade?", and so on until the student with CP had created a painting with the help of another. It just astounds me that a teacher would care so much for his students to put so much time and effort into this project. Not only that but the other students as well have to be extremely patient, its just very inspiring. I also watched "My Left Foot", which I must say I thought was a wonderful movie. Again I think it really shows dedication to those with disabilities. I am currently majoring in Early Childhood Education, but am pretty seriously thinking about, after graduation, going to grad school for special education research. I think Zach Anner is a perfect example of how far someone with disabilities can go if they have the right resources available to them. Unfortunately I don't think that is common in many schools. I hope to one day be able to change that, even if just the smallest bit.

So there you have it, instead of writing an essay on financial stability I would much rather write about things dear to my heart. Hopefully no one minded the slight rant I had going. If so feel free to let me know and I can tone it down next time. :DI have work in approximately 9 hours and so I must be off.

music suggestion: "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" - Avett Brothers

Oh!, what a productive day if I do say so myself! It may not have been as productive as I had hooped but I certainly got more done than I thought. I guess I tend to hope for the best, but not hope too much :)I spent most of the day with my big sister, Nina. We went gallivanting around Midtown, East Atlanta, and Decatur from one thrift store to the next. Although she had told me this before, it was proven today that Value Village is THE place to go thrift store shopping. While it's a little bit of a trek from our house it is far cheaper than Last Chance. Also today it seemed as though Last Chance was slightly lacking in everything EXCEPT old timey ice cube trays, which were a steal at, I do believe, $.99 a piece. However I was not willing to pay $3.99 for a mug, that was a tad bit ridiculous. Neen Queen and I were able to find some real steals at Value Village however, which would include 2 canisters to hold all the flour we could ever need for our baking endeavors, or more so Nina's, a ceramic pizza stone for the mere price of $5, a set of measuring cups, and a cute breadbox for $5 as well. Overall it was a very successful trip and certainly more exciting than the trip to the gym I had planned. After we were done with our thrifting we moved onto the fabric store, which was sorely lacking in anything not cutesy. So alas, the pillows and cushion I have planned to make will have to wait just a bit longer, because I will settle for nothing less than the best! Our final trip of the day was to the DeKalb Farmers Market! Which I believe can also be described as a success, if you exclude the fact that we left the store without a jack fruit. Which if you are wondering looks like this:

In this picture the fruit may appear to be small, but make no mistake the ones at the market were at least 10 lbs a piece. Which is sadly why we could not return home with one. If only it had been a tad bit lighter. We did leave the store with , a star fruit, a pineapple, couscous, and oats - all things one needs in a kitchen. The oats are actually to make granola, and I would kindly appreciate any recipes thrown my way, as this will be my first attempt at the delicious treat which I have recently grown to love! Truthfully any recipes for anything at all would be appreciated. I've been relying on others to cook for me lately and so now I think its time I returned the favor, but one can only eat hamburger helper so many times, even if it is delicious! I recently made some pretty good turkey burgers on my newly acquired George Foreman, which I must admit I adore, as well as stuffed zucchini which ended up being rather delicious and overall pretty easy to make. My next conquest, other than the granola, will be chicken parmesan. I've tried it once before, but the results were nothing to write home about. Nina has successfully made beef jerky in the dehydrator and it is good as s-h. I am repeatedly impressed with what she can make in the kitchen.

anyways...

By the time our little shopping spree was done, I had no desire to get sweaty and gross at the gym so I spent the rest of my afternoon reading. Christopher Moore is very quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Recently I read "A Dirty Job", this was my first experience with mister Moore and I pretty much fell in love, although his endings are slightly lacking. I am currently reading "You Suck: A Love Story" and am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm slightly worried about how quickly summer is going by in regards to my reading. I have a large stack of books on my bookshelf that are waiting to be read, and I'm almost certain that although I will want to read during the school year the stress of a new school and new classes will probably put things like Fahrenheit 451 on the back burner, and yes I know I probably should have read that book years ago in middle school, but my class did 1984 instead. Anyways I'm hoping that I can make somewhat of a dent in those books before I head on down to school.

Today, we also celebrated my sister's 25th birthday, although it's not until Friday, by eating out at the neighborhood Mexican restaurant, which always makes for a good time. Friday we will again celebrate but on the other side of town and at an art show hosted by BEEP BEEP Gallery at Aurora Coffee. These shows always prove to be entertaining and fun. This particular show will just double as an impromptu birthday party for Nina.

Now I am going to attempt to go to sleep and hope that prior to work tomorrow I can force myself to the gym and get a few other things done. Wish me luck!